By comparison, visitors to Rikers Island are not banned from wearing gang colors, but skimpy or “see-through” garments are prohibited.

Even though Chuck E. Cheese’s games and animatronic entertainers are geared to a very young clientele, the arcades have been the sites of violence.

Similar bans have already been established at Chuck E. Cheese’s locations in Michigan and Wisconsin following drunken brawls involving as many as 80 customers, but none of the other New York City locations have instituted the new rules.

New Yorkers said they could not fathom why Bloods, Crips or Latin Kings would want to wage turf wars in the ball pits.

“It’s ridiculous. I don’t see gangs going into Chuck E. Cheese’s,” said Tish Payne, 28, who yesterday visited the Harlem location with her 1-year-old.

“They probably put the sign up because of the location. It’s adding to the stereotype that Harlem is trying to deviate from.”

The signs were posted in locations with higher crime rates, a Chuck E. Cheese’s spokeswoman said, and are now installed at 25 percent of the company’s more than 500 arcades nationwide.

Some parents said that they appreciated the ban even if they had never felt in danger at Chuck E. Cheese’s.